Carrot Juice and Changes
by Wilona Riva
Summary: Igor spikes Count Duckula's carrot juice.
1. Discovery

Carrot Juice and Changes

By: Wilona Riva

Chapter One: Discovery

Disclaimer: Count Duckula belongs to someone other than me. I just own the story plot.

* * *

Screams were heard coming from Castle Duckula in the village below. The villagers all glanced up, identified the source of the screams, and went about their merry way. It was just another typical Monday in Transylvania.

Count Duckula ran up and down the hallway screaming. "Igor! Igor!"

"You screamed, milord?" the butler's sepulchral voice intoned, an instant before he rounded the corner.

The green vampire duck stopped pacing and glared at his butler. "Yes, I did. I opened the refrigerator door this morning and do you know what I found?"

Igor gulped. _He didn't find the bottle of Transylvanian #5 missing, did he? Preposterous, since I took it and spiked the... Oh, yes...the carrot juice._ He grinned evilly, to himself.

Outward, Igor showed no emotion. "No, milord. What did you find this morning in Nanny's kitchen?"

Duckula groaned. Sometimes his butler could be a bit dense. "A new brand of carrot juice, that's what! I didn't know they made in such a thick consistency. Juice is not supposed to be that thick."

"Indeed not, milord. Perhaps it is a new brand the grocer gave us by mistake. I will take it back, at once," the vulture butler replied.

"A new brand, you say? It's time for a change around here," Duckula said, a new light shining in his eyes. "Nanny, where's my oatmeal? And I need a juice glass." He sat down at the dining room table and tucked his napkin into his tuxedo collar.

"Coming, Duckyboos!" Nanny's voice said, as she crashed through the wall. "Here you are, sir."

"Better order another door and a stonemason to fix that wall," Duckula muttered in an aside to Igor. He filled the glass with the carrot juice and swallowed.

"Right, milord," Igor said, rubbing his hands with glee. _Soon, very soon._

Count Duckula smacked his lips thoughtfully, as he stared at the strangely colored juice. "There's something strange about this juice, Igor. It fills me somehow. I don't think I even need to eat my oatmeal this morning." Jumping up, he headed for the library with the bottle of carrot juice.

Igor chuckled evilly, as he replaced the half-empty of blood on the shelf. _Master Duckula is a vampire vegetarian who does not realize he must drink blood in order to survive. The symptoms have begun showing themselves. And now he has begun the change..._

_(meanwhile in the library)_

Duckula stared at his non-existent reflection in the mirror. His gums were tingling strangely; it was as if he were cutting teeth. He took another swig from the bottle; he was developing a strange thirst deep inside of him.

Changes were indeed occurring inside Castle Duckula this not-so-typical Monday morning.

Good night out there, whatever you are!


	2. Thirst

Carrot Juice and Changes

By: Wilona Riva

Disclaimer: I do not own Count Duckula.

Chapter Two: Thirst

* * *

It had been three weeks since Igor had spiked the carrot juice. Three whole glorious weeks.

Igor headed down to the kitchen, ignoring Nanny's train-wreckage snores from next door. It was midnight, and his young master would now be awake, since the changes wrought by the "carrot juice" had begun to take effect. _Time, I explained myself, I suppose._

Count Duckula, meanwhile, was not happy. He couldn't stand the sight of vegetables, including his beloved broccoli sandwiches. Even the juice didn't satisfy him anymore. Especially, since his fangs had finally grown in. They irritated him, but he was growing used to them by now.

Rummaging through the fridge, he encountered a glass bottle labelled "Transylvanian #5".

"Drat, Igor!" he fumed. "He's doing it again."

Staring at the bottle, he sighed. Igor was trying to get him to drink blood again. He had figured out two weeks ago that Igor had spiked the carrot juice with blood, giving him this damned craving and the fangs to go with it.

Taking the bottle out of the fridge, he slammed the door shut and came face to face with his butler. Nervously, he chuckled when Igor raised one eyebrow at the bottle in his hand.

"Uh, don't mind me, Igor," Duckula stammered. "I was, ah just, ..." he nervously rubbed the back of his neck.

"Milord, just swig from the bottle. All men do it. It's one way we love to annoy the village maidens," the butler replied.

Count Duckula moaned as the image of biting a lovely village damsel's neck, as she swooned into his arms came to mind. He slammed the bottle down the table, causing several napkins to fall off the table.

"Why, Igor?"

The question sizzled in the air between them.

The butler sighed. "Because you are a vampire, milord, and you come from an illustrious line of vampire ducks. I have served you faithfully for centuries, always reviving you once a century following the formula as stated in the Aquarian Scrolls. Except this time, it got botched."

Duckula's brow furrowed. He really didn't know what Igor was talking about. "What was botched?"

The butler took the bottle of Transylvanian #5 and placed it squarely in front of his master. "Nanny did, in fact. She handed me a bottle of ketchup instead of blood as the spell called for. And now, if you do not drink blood before the next moon rises, the Devil will have his due."

"The Devil, he won't!" Count Duckula exclaimed, gripping the bottle tightly about the neck. "Igor, I can't stand the sight of blood, but if this how I must live, so be it," he said, tilting his head back and drank deeply of the rich, dark life-giving fluid.

Igor chuckled evilly to himself. _I can't believe he bought that lie. And now, there is no going back for him._

Count Duckula, meanwhile, was lost on the exotic taste of the bottle's contents. _Mmmm, why didn't I notice this entoxicating fluid, before._ He closed his eyes in rapture, savoring the flavor of life.

Igor stared at his young master. "Milord? Are you alright?"

Duckula opened his blood-red eyes. "I am fine, Igor. Let's go out into the village, tonight."

Igor breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, happy day, master. Now, there is something worth living for."

Duckula snorted mentally. "Don't get all sentimental about it, Igor. Just because I must be a blood-sucking fiend, doesn't mean I have to give up all my personality."

Igor snickered. "Wouldn't dream on it, sir. Shall we have some fun tonight, sir?"

Count Duckula, the wicked gleam back in his eye, just flashed his fangs in the moonlight in reply.

The long eternal reign of Count Duckula had begun, at last!


	3. Nanny

Carrot Juice and Changes

By: Wilona Riva

Disclaimer: I don't own Count Duckula.

Chapter Three: Nanny

* * *

Nanny couldn't take it anymore. Her Duckyboos was acting very strangely now, spending more times with Igor. A scream filled the night air from the dark chambers below.

"Now, what could they be up to?" she muttered, grabbing her slippers and a candle.

The castle was darker than midnight, the shadows lending a dismal nightmarish cast in the full moonlight. Nanny paused, and stared at the painting in front of her.

It was of a young woman, her dark hair and blue eyes set her apart from the other dark haired vixens in the crowd. This was Count Duckula's wife of old.

"I'm sorry, ma'am, I really tried to stop him this time," Nanny apologized to the portrait. "I gave Mr. Igor a bottle of ketchup hoping that the blood craving would be cleansed from his veins."

She heaved a great sigh. "I really tried. Old Igor's won through in the end."

Another scream pierced the night air.

"I wished they'd let a poor tired old soul sleep," Nanny growled. "This ends now."

"Aww, come on, Towser, you can do it! I believe in you," Count Duckula cheered on the resident werewolf.

Igor sighed and pushed his chair back. "I've had enough of the game, milord. Especially, my poor eardrums."

Towser howled in frustration. He hadn't won a single game all evening and he was howling mad, no pun intended.

Nanny walked into the room. "I thought I heard screaming," she said.

"Just Towser letting out some rage, Nanny," Duckula had to blink a few times. _Did Nanny just use the door instead of smashing through the walls? Yes!_

"He lost again, the poor dear," Nanny said. "I'll bring everyone some midnight snacks then."

Towser wagged his tail in excitement and licked his chops. He loved Nanny's cooking.

"Game?" he asked.

"Sure, why not?" Count Duckula took Igor's vacated seat and set up the checkers board.

Igor moaned in absolute horror.

_Just when everything was going so right. What went wrong?_


End file.
